Finally upgrading

CamD · November 7th, 2004

I'm hoping to finally build my new computer. I've recently found some parts on newegg.com that I am thinking of buying and would like your advice, comments, suggestions, etc...

Mobo: ASRock "P4S61" SiS661FX $49
CPU: Intel Celeron-D 2.26GHz (Prescott) $66.5
RAM: 256MB Kingston PC2100 DDR $44
GPU: nVidia GeForce fx5200 8xAGP 128MB $53

The rest of the computer will be built with parts from my current system...I might need a new case. I'm thinking I may be able to get one off a friend, but I don't know.
How much wattage would the PSU need?

Your response is much appreciated

PS. Basically I'm aiming for a mid-range system that can be easily upgraded in the future... I'm looking for the best bang for my little buck.

PPS. Anyone know how it will work to ship into Canada? I'm wondering if shipping will cost more.

ChrisRay · November 7th, 2004

If I were you I'd spend a little bit more and get a Radeon 9550 or 9600 card. You'll be happy you did. Or perhaps the upcoming 6200 line however current availability is weak paticularly in AGP form and it has no compression for anti aliasing.

eternal11 · November 8th, 2004

more ram would be a welcomed addition too otherwise your windows xp (assuming you will be running it) takes quite a bit of ram. and dont ASRock mobo's suck?

**cooliscool** · November 8th, 2004

They're not bad if you don't overdo them.. They are for sure value boards, but they aren't as bad as people make them out to be. They are part of Asus afterall.

I recently built a PC for a friend down the road with that same board and CPU, ran without a single hitch, even overclocked to 3.2GHz.

Man, those Celly-D's sure to OC f00king awesome.

But yeah, get some more ram, and get either PC2700 or PC3200. The Celeron D running on a 533FSB would be held back alot by 266MHz RAM. PSU shouldn't be too big an issue - 300W would be more than enough.

edit: woops. Newegg doesn't ship to Canada.. didn't read your whole post. I hear good things about TigerDirect Canada, though I personally don't deal with them (Newegg is a luxury

) it's probably the best e-tailer that ships to Canada.

Player-X · November 8th, 2004

Go for a better manufacturer like MSI for the board, If you want to play games on that you don't want a Celeron 512MB ram is what I suggest and a Radeon9600 for your card and a 380 Watt PSu is recomended

D.D. · November 8th, 2004

www.ncix.com isnt bad for a canadian company either

kof2k · November 9th, 2004

go with an ATI card like a radeon 9000 or higher or a geforce FX5500. i bought a Geforce FX 5200 128mb a few days ago and its not worth it.

CamD · November 14th, 2004

Thx for the advise

Along with some suggestions from one of my brother's friends, I have come up with a better system.
I'm still working on it, but advise is still welcome:

MoBo: Asus P4800 SiS $98.99
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz (Northwood?) $188.99
RAM: Kingston 512MB PC3200 $121.99
GPU: Sapphire Radeon 9550 128MB $107.99

*Prices are in Canadian (thanks to the sites recommended

). Conversion is about .82US=1.00CND.

PS. Although I doubt it will be a concern, I want to make sure the parts will be compatible (I've heard stories

)

PPS. Sorry for the newb question, but when it says the mobo supports 2 IDE devices, is that per cable(4 in total)?

**cooliscool** · November 14th, 2004

Yep, 2 IDE devices = 2 per channel. That comes out to 4 max. Those parts are fine together. Also, that P4 is a Prescott A.

Look for 2x256 sticks of that Kingston, so you can run in Dual Channel mode.. especially with that P4, it's very useful.

edit: just looked at that board, doesn't support Dual Channel.. go for this one: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...4804&CatId=182

It's even a bit cheaper.

CamD · November 14th, 2004

Ok, but the thing is when ever I'm going to want to upgrade again both sticks go to waste...
ya, i'm very frugal
I'll consider it though

EDIT: Ooo...Don't really want to stray from Asus/Abit

**cooliscool** · November 14th, 2004

How so? It'd be the same with 1x512. If you upgrade it'll be useless aswell. You probably thought I meant 2 of those, but no, I mean 2x256=512.

Trust me. The extra speed you won't regret having.

CamD · November 14th, 2004

Well, with 1x512, I could buy another 512 to make it 1024... Of coarse with a 4DIMM mobo I could get another 2x256 or 2x512 (=1536)...

**cooliscool** · November 14th, 2004

Whatever you want to do. I'm just saying get that board and matched DIMMs and you'll be golden.

Who cares if it isn't Asus or Abit.. a better board for less and you don't want it because it's not Asus or Abit. Pay more for less features (running in single channel with a P4 is absolutely idiotic) for, essentially, a name. You were starting out buying an ASRock

. Man, that's.. stupid. Shuttle isn't bad at all.

Esturk · November 14th, 2004

Asus and Abit are friggin awesome. Why not go for an Asus or Abit board that supports dual channel?

**cooliscool** · November 14th, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esturk

Asus and Abit are friggin awesome. Why not go for an Asus or Abit board that supports dual channel?

They are indeed, but they are much more expensive.. it's his decision.

I love my Albatron board though. Tried something new, came out pleasently suprised. I once too clinged to Abit/Asus/MSI, etc.. but this one seemed "right". Now, I wouldn't have it any other way (well... an A64 would be nice

).

bahamut_2006 · November 14th, 2004

That Shuttle board should be solid. I'm using one right now (wish I had my good ol
albatron but oh well).My board is old, outdated, non dual channel, crappy via chipset, but I have never had a problem with boards from Shuttle, so I would take cooliscool's advice and get it.

CamD · November 14th, 2004

...After thinking about it a bit more, I think I'll either get that Shuttle (most likely) or a $100+ Asus/Abit with Dual Channel... I figure with 4DIMM 2x 2x256 will go to waste anyway in a few years; next time i do a full upgrade (64-bit, DDR2, PCI-X, etc

)

**cooliscool** · November 14th, 2004

You mean PCI-express. PCI-X and PCI-e are two different things.

CamD · November 14th, 2004

PCI-express...whatever

**Kane** · November 14th, 2004

PCX = PCI-e, bizarely enough

November 7th, 2004	#1 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	Finally upgrading I'm hoping to finally build my new computer. I've recently found some parts on newegg.com that I am thinking of buying and would like your advice, comments, suggestions, etc... Mobo: ASRock "P4S61" SiS661FX $49 CPU: Intel Celeron-D 2.26GHz (Prescott) $66.5 RAM: 256MB Kingston PC2100 DDR $44 GPU: nVidia GeForce fx5200 8xAGP 128MB $53 The rest of the computer will be built with parts from my current system...I might need a new case. I'm thinking I may be able to get one off a friend, but I don't know. How much wattage would the PSU need? Your response is much appreciated PS. Basically I'm aiming for a mid-range system that can be easily upgraded in the future... I'm looking for the best bang for my little buck. PPS. Anyone know how it will work to ship into Canada? I'm wondering if shipping will cost more. __________________ (New) PC: C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat]

November 7th, 2004	#2 (permalink)
ChrisRay MMORPG Junkie Join Date: May 2004 Location: No Where! Posts: 5,665	If I were you I'd spend a little bit more and get a Radeon 9550 or 9600 card. You'll be happy you did. Or perhaps the upcoming 6200 line however current availability is weak paticularly in AGP form and it has no compression for anti aliasing. __________________ \|CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad Core @ 3.2 Ghz\|Mobo:EVGA Nforce 780I @ 1470 FSB\|Memory:4 Gig Corsair XMS2 DDR1066\|Video:Geforce GTX 260x3 SLIMonitor:1680x1050\/Olevia 27 Inch Widescreen HDTV 1920x1080 \|CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition @ 2.5 Ghz\|Mobo:Asus M3n HT Deluxe Nforce 780A\|Memory: 2 Gigs Corsair Dominator @ 1066\| Video: Geforce GTX 280x2 SLI Nzone/SLIZone: SLI Forum Support Mod Nvidia User Group Member

November 8th, 2004	#4 (permalink)
cooliscool Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Hyda IV Posts: 6,057	They're not bad if you don't overdo them.. They are for sure value boards, but they aren't as bad as people make them out to be. They are part of Asus afterall. I recently built a PC for a friend down the road with that same board and CPU, ran without a single hitch, even overclocked to 3.2GHz. Man, those Celly-D's sure to OC f00king awesome. But yeah, get some more ram, and get either PC2700 or PC3200. The Celeron D running on a 533FSB would be held back alot by 266MHz RAM. PSU shouldn't be too big an issue - 300W would be more than enough. edit: woops. Newegg doesn't ship to Canada.. didn't read your whole post. I hear good things about TigerDirect Canada, though I personally don't deal with them (Newegg is a luxury ) it's probably the best e-tailer that ships to Canada. __________________ Fayt: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz @ 3.0GHz [Allendale] (1333MHz FSB), 2GB Crucial DDR2-800 Dual Channel kit @ 800MHz 4-3-3-10, 512MB BFG nVidia GeForce 7950GT OC (650/1600), Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, MSI P6N-SLi nVidia 650i mobo, 200GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), 80GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x w/ Lightscribe, Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Aspire X-Dreamer II case, Logitech MX518 GG Optical Mouse, Asetek Waterchill kit (distilled water + Red Line Watter Wetter), T.I.M - Arctic Silver Ceramique Last edited by cooliscool; November 8th, 2004 at 06:04.

November 8th, 2004	#6 (permalink)
D.D. band Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: HERE Posts: 4,566	www.ncix.com isnt bad for a canadian company either __________________ 1. Small, Cheap, Powerful - you can have only two 2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot. 3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」 The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

November 14th, 2004	#8 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	Updated wishlist Thx for the advise Along with some suggestions from one of my brother's friends, I have come up with a better system. I'm still working on it, but advise is still welcome: MoBo: Asus P4800 SiS $98.99 CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz (Northwood?) $188.99 RAM: Kingston 512MB PC3200 $121.99 GPU: Sapphire Radeon 9550 128MB $107.99 Prices are in Canadian (thanks to the sites recommended). Conversion is about .82US=1.00CND. PS. Although I doubt it will be a concern, I want to make sure the parts will be compatible (I've heard stories) PPS. Sorry for the newb question, but when it says the mobo supports 2 IDE devices, is that per cable(4 in total)? __________________ (New) PC:* C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat]

November 8th, 2004	#3 (permalink)
eternal11 *** Type R Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: COW TOWN CALIFORNIA Posts: 331	more ram would be a welcomed addition too otherwise your windows xp (assuming you will be running it) takes quite a bit of ram. and dont ASRock mobo's suck?

November 8th, 2004	#5 (permalink)
Player-X Banned Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: From Kuching in Malaysia now stuck in Houston Texas Posts: 9,110	Go for a better manufacturer like MSI for the board, If you want to play games on that you don't want a Celeron 512MB ram is what I suggest and a Radeon9600 for your card and a 380 Watt PSu is recomended

November 9th, 2004	#7 (permalink)
kof2k Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: City of Angels Posts: 181	go with an ATI card like a radeon 9000 or higher or a geforce FX5500. i bought a Geforce FX 5200 128mb a few days ago and its not worth it.

November 14th, 2004	#9 (permalink)
cooliscool Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Hyda IV Posts: 6,057	Yep, 2 IDE devices = 2 per channel. That comes out to 4 max. Those parts are fine together. Also, that P4 is a Prescott A. Look for 2x256 sticks of that Kingston, so you can run in Dual Channel mode.. especially with that P4, it's very useful. edit: just looked at that board, doesn't support Dual Channel.. go for this one: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...4804&CatId=182 It's even a bit cheaper. __________________ Fayt: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz @ 3.0GHz [Allendale] (1333MHz FSB), 2GB Crucial DDR2-800 Dual Channel kit @ 800MHz 4-3-3-10, 512MB BFG nVidia GeForce 7950GT OC (650/1600), Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, MSI P6N-SLi nVidia 650i mobo, 200GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), 80GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x w/ Lightscribe, Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Aspire X-Dreamer II case, Logitech MX518 GG Optical Mouse, Asetek Waterchill kit (distilled water + Red Line Watter Wetter), T.I.M - Arctic Silver Ceramique

November 14th, 2004	#10 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	Ok, but the thing is when ever I'm going to want to upgrade again both sticks go to waste... ya, i'm very frugal I'll consider it though EDIT: Ooo...Don't really want to stray from Asus/Abit __________________ (New) PC: C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat] Last edited by CamD; November 14th, 2004 at 03:56.

November 14th, 2004	#11 (permalink)
cooliscool Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Hyda IV Posts: 6,057	How so? It'd be the same with 1x512. If you upgrade it'll be useless aswell. You probably thought I meant 2 of those, but no, I mean 2x256=512. Trust me. The extra speed you won't regret having. __________________ Fayt: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz @ 3.0GHz [Allendale] (1333MHz FSB), 2GB Crucial DDR2-800 Dual Channel kit @ 800MHz 4-3-3-10, 512MB BFG nVidia GeForce 7950GT OC (650/1600), Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, MSI P6N-SLi nVidia 650i mobo, 200GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), 80GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x w/ Lightscribe, Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Aspire X-Dreamer II case, Logitech MX518 GG Optical Mouse, Asetek Waterchill kit (distilled water + Red Line Watter Wetter), T.I.M - Arctic Silver Ceramique

November 14th, 2004	#12 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	Well, with 1x512, I could buy another 512 to make it 1024... Of coarse with a 4DIMM mobo I could get another 2x256 or 2x512 (=1536)... __________________ (New) PC: C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat]

November 14th, 2004	#13 (permalink)
cooliscool Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Hyda IV Posts: 6,057	Whatever you want to do. I'm just saying get that board and matched DIMMs and you'll be golden. Who cares if it isn't Asus or Abit.. a better board for less and you don't want it because it's not Asus or Abit. Pay more for less features (running in single channel with a P4 is absolutely idiotic) for, essentially, a name. You were starting out buying an ASRock . Man, that's.. stupid. Shuttle isn't bad at all. __________________ Fayt: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz @ 3.0GHz [Allendale] (1333MHz FSB), 2GB Crucial DDR2-800 Dual Channel kit @ 800MHz 4-3-3-10, 512MB BFG nVidia GeForce 7950GT OC (650/1600), Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, MSI P6N-SLi nVidia 650i mobo, 200GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), 80GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x w/ Lightscribe, Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Aspire X-Dreamer II case, Logitech MX518 GG Optical Mouse, Asetek Waterchill kit (distilled water + Red Line Watter Wetter), T.I.M - Arctic Silver Ceramique

November 14th, 2004	#14 (permalink)
Esturk Registered User Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Posts: 6,957	Asus and Abit are friggin awesome. Why not go for an Asus or Abit board that supports dual channel? __________________ Necrosaro: Windows XP Pro x64 Edition SP2 \| Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache \| Asus P5K Deluxe, Intel P35 Chipset, Socket 775 \| 4GB Kingston PC5300 DDR2 \| Nvidia GeForce 8800GT, 1024MB \| Creative SB X-Fi Fatality Edition \| Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD, 150Gb, SATA, Western Digital WD5000AAKS, 500GB, SATA \| LG 16x DVD-RWx2 SATA.

November 14th, 2004	#16 (permalink)
bahamut_2006 AMD Join Date: May 2002 Location: Iredell, Texas, USA Posts: 779	That Shuttle board should be solid. I'm using one right now (wish I had my good ol albatron but oh well).My board is old, outdated, non dual channel, crappy via chipset, but I have never had a problem with boards from Shuttle, so I would take cooliscool's advice and get it. __________________ Primary rig: AMD Athlon 64 3700 (2.2 Ghz) San Diego core\|2 GB Corsair DDR 400 ram\|ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo\|512 MB eVGA GeForce 7950GT\|Primary HD: 300 GB Maxtor\| Secondary HD 200 GB Western Digital HD\|Aspire X-Dreamer II case w/550w Antec PSU\|Sony DVD-Rom\|Sony DVD-RW\|19" Sceptre LCD\|4.1 Surround Sound\|Runnin on Windows XP Pro SP2

November 14th, 2004	#20 (permalink)
Kane 邪魔ゎ指せない Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gosport, England Posts: 26,255	PCX = PCI-e, bizarely enough __________________ >Site Live< Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators. Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible Celes: (Desktop) Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 2Gb 400MHz DDR Ram, MSI K8N Platinum, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 500Gb RAID HDD, Vista Business Erika: (MCPC) Athlon XP 2400+, 1Gb 400MHz DDR Ram, geForce 6800 256Mb, 80Gb Hdd, XP 2005 MCE Kimiko: (Desktop 2) Athlon 64 3000+, 512Mb 400MHz DDR Ram, Asus K8V, geForce 6800 128Mb

November 14th, 2004	#17 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	...After thinking about it a bit more, I think I'll either get that Shuttle (most likely) or a $100+ Asus/Abit with Dual Channel... I figure with 4DIMM 2x 2x256 will go to waste anyway in a few years; next time i do a full upgrade (64-bit, DDR2, PCI-X, etc) __________________ (New) PC: C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat]

November 14th, 2004	#18 (permalink)
cooliscool Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Hyda IV Posts: 6,057	You mean PCI-express. PCI-X and PCI-e are two different things. __________________ Fayt: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz @ 3.0GHz [Allendale] (1333MHz FSB), 2GB Crucial DDR2-800 Dual Channel kit @ 800MHz 4-3-3-10, 512MB BFG nVidia GeForce 7950GT OC (650/1600), Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, MSI P6N-SLi nVidia 650i mobo, 200GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), 80GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 (NCQ), Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x w/ Lightscribe, Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Aspire X-Dreamer II case, Logitech MX518 GG Optical Mouse, Asetek Waterchill kit (distilled water + Red Line Watter Wetter), T.I.M - Arctic Silver Ceramique

November 14th, 2004	#19 (permalink)
CamD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 67	PCI-express...whatever __________________ (New) PC: C2D E8400 3.0GHz, 2GB PC2-6400, eVGA 8800 GT, Asus P5K SE/EPU, OCZ StealthXStream 600W, Kubuntu / WinXP (HT)PC: P4 3.2GHz HT, 512MB DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600pro, Kubuntu / Win2k3, aDSL@5Mb/s PlayStation 2: SCPH-70011 (slim) X.Com [freewebs.com/xcombat]

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